Monday, April 1, 2013

Repost: Baby starts daycare -- and she's OK. Her parents are another story.

I've contributed to the Orlando Sentinel's Moms at Work blog since 2010. The blog is changing content management systems and my old posts will no longer be available to the public, so I'm reposting them here, in the order that they were originally posted.

Enjoy.



Jan. 5, 2011

It turns out that my daughter is much more resilient and independent than even I thought she was.

Yesterday, she started daycare for the first time. She had previously been receiving one-on-one care from a caregiver, but it became clear a few months back that she thrived in the presence of other children, so my husband and I started to search for a place that might be a good fit.

We found one, filled out the paperwork and promptly started worrying about how she might react. Would she spend all day crying? Would she be so distraught that she wouldn't eat all day? Would she play with the other children? Would the teachers comfort her when she became frustrated?

And worse: Would Mommy and Daddy be able to handle this evidence that our baby isn't really a baby anymore?

Well, yesterday was D-Day, and it all turned out fine.

Her emotional parents struggled to keep from tearing up in the middle of the school's play area, but she didn't even turn around to look at us as we sneaked out of the room during the morning. The teachers seemed to be kind and experienced with toddlers.

We still worried, though. Naturally, my husband and I both called the school a couple of times during the day to make sure she was OK.

She was.

And to my surprise, I think she will continue to be.

How was your child's first day of daycare/school? Were you emotional? How long did it take your child to adjust to the new schedule?

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